Power couple selling mansion after divorce

After their split, Kim and Charles Githler are selling their 11,000-square-foot Sarasota home, site of many prominent fundraising events.

HAROLD BUBIL

For the past eight years, it has been the house everyone has wanted to visit.

Its guest book includes such conservative political and financial luminaries as Speaker of the House John Boehner, former presidential candidate and magazine publisher Steve Forbes, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

Many local charities have held fundraisers there, with up to 400 guests at a time, raising an estimated $10 million within its walls.

“We like to give back to the community,” owners Kim and Charles Githler say.

Whether because of its guest list or size — 10,900 square feet — the house at 324 S. Shore Drive near the Ringling Museum of Art is hardly any residence.

Successful people “like to do things in a big way,” said Charles Githler. “With this house, there is just more to like.”

Big extends to the home's price, too. At $14.9 million, it is the most expensive waterfront single residence on the Sarasota Multiple Listing Service, being listed by Michael Saunders & Co. agents Nora Johnson and Linda Dickinson.

“This is an exceptional property due to its views of downtown and quality construction. It can entertain hundreds and yet lives like a cozy home,” said Johnson, who has also co-chaired various fundraisers with Kim Githler.

The Githlers, he of real estate investments like the Hyatt Sarasota hotel and she of MoneyShow, a company that provides financial insights and investment information to individuals, are one of Sarasota's most prominent power couples.

The pair are selling the house after divorcing following 28 years of marriage. The split became final on March 18.

Charles Githler now lives primarily in San Francisco, while Kim Githler and the couple's son, Charles IV, who will be off to college in Chicago in a few months, live in the home.

Kim Githler has concluded that the house, despite a house manager and housekeeper, is just too much work. She said she now feels a bit lost within all the space.

“It is time to downsize,” she said.

No wonder.

The villa

“Villa Solstice,” as it is known, measures 25,000 square feet under roof, with five bedrooms and seven baths, including its ground floor and terraces. It took five years to plan and construct.

Kim Githler said leaving the house, which was completed in 2005, is not a bittersweet experience.

She wants to build a smaller home, maybe 7,000 square feet, on a parcel she owns nearby.

But Charles Githler, mindful of potential buyers, notes that the engineering and finishes in the house — including South American ipe hardwood on an expansive, south-facing terrace and a long-lasting slate-tile roof, are low-maintenance.

“A lot of the house takes care of itself,” he said.

It also can take care of visitors — a lot of them. The house's total square footage ranks it among the largest in Sarasota, though its 17 rooms are surprisingly intimate.

Three separate sections, or wings, are connected by enclosed bridges. On one, son Charlie's first-floor suite has two bedrooms and a study. It feels like a New York City apartment.

A kitchen and breakfast room is smaller than many found in Lakewood Ranch, though the decor — high-end appliances, bamboo and grasscloth — are unique. Almost every space in the house has views of the bay.

A library, replete with lots of dark wood, is being featured in a British publication of “inspiring libraries.”

In the dining room, walls are upholstered in silk.

For fundraisers, caterer Michael's on East uses a garage attached to the house with a door that was specifically designed to accommodate its trucks.

The house also boasts a 1,400-bottle wine room and a built-in bar that features a large aquarium.

Power couple When they were not entertaining, the Githlers were building an empire, of sorts.

Kim Githler works as president and chief executive of MoneyShow, a firm she started in 1982 with money she got from selling her car. Charles Githler hosted many of the company investment seminars over the years.

Charles Githler also made a mark as a real estate investor, buying and selling the land on which the tony Sarasota Bay Club now sits and the land under the Beau Ciel luxury condominium tower on Boulevard of the Arts, in Sarasota.

At the Hyatt, Githler Development led a renovation that made the hotel among Sarasota's premier meeting spaces.

In MoneyShow's lobby, on Palm Avenue, photos of the Githlers abound with the likes of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford; former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; television host Louis Rukeyser; and conservative commentator and publisher William F. Buckley.

Deeper inside MoneyShow, the pair continue to work from side-by-side offices, though Charles Githler, in a nod to the divorce, is preparing to move farther down a hallway.

The divorce was believed to be acrimonious, though the pair seem cordial, now, when interviewed together. Kim Githler, at least, is even somewhat sanguine on the subject of her marriage.

“Nobody's perfect,” she said. “We have different values. When you are younger, you overlook that. And we will always have a relationship. We have our son.”

And not every Githler business endeavor has been successful, either.

The multimillion dollar purchase in 2003 of a boatyard and land on Whitaker Bayou — planned as upscale condominiums and a luxury dockominium to store yachts — never materialized, amid opposition from neighbors and the market's decline six years ago.

Villa Solstice

But if the couple's mansion was intended as a monument to their success, it has succeeded and more.

The Githlers began planning Villa Solstice in 2000. Living in a 4,000-square-foot house on the site, they bought the house next door with the goal of linking the two structures. But the late custom builder M.L. Collingwood advised against that.

Together, they focused on designing a single, opulent structure. For the new house, the pair retained Kukk Architecture & Design of Naples, interior designer Betsy Godfrey of Winter Park and contractor BCB Homes, also of Naples.

Hazeltine Nurseries did landscape design, which is punctuated with fountains and statuary the Githlers purchased in Southeast Asia.

Also outside, the property's gazebo has its own kitchen, while a kidney-shaped swimming pool and spa were built by the same company that installed the Hyatt's pool. A bocce court runs along the shore. There are two boat docks, a rarity.

Because it faces south, the home's terraces are sheltered from winter winds, and the home is angled to have a direct view of the city skyline, as well as a wide swath of Sarasota Bay and barrier islands.

All of which is why only one house in the area, a mansion in The Concession golf community, is priced higher, at $16.5 million.

Johnson, the Saunders' Realtor, said such a house would be marketed at millions of dollars more in Naples. As such, she believes the price is appropriate. It will be marketed to an array of CEOs, venture capitalists, investment bankers and entrepreneurs.

But for the Githlers' close friends, the sales effort brings to a close a Camelot-like saga, albeit on a more local scale.

“I know they need to move on, but I, for one, am very sad about everything,” said Margaret Wise, one of Kim Githler's closest friends and a local philanthropist and society maven.